D&D 3E/3.5 What are the "problem" spells in 3E?

[Cloudgatherer]

There is a group of spells that fall under "DM Interpretation". Off the top of my head....

Commune
Contact Other Plane
Foresight
Legend Lore

I don't think there is anything wrong with the spell wording, but the interpretation is left up to the DM, which is not consistent from game to game.

On a personal note, I played an Epic Level Game where my wizard had foresight on the entire time. If he had not, the party would have most likely been captured within a strange tower and that would have been the end of it. I told the DM my interpreation is the "about to do something stupid alarm", maybe the character/player doesn't know it, but that's what the spell does. Several times the DM would say "You don't really want to do that", and I would have to think of what the danger might be and how to avoid it.

Re: Forcecage. Doesn't the errata or something allow a reflex save for this? I can understand negating SR, but Reflex save also? Hm...not a spell used very often. Either the critter could have ranged attacks or teleport away.....

Anyhow, keep it coming!

 

[Zenon]

I'm surpised nobody brought up Mind Blank yet. (at least I didn't see it scanning the posts)

After the whole "Mind Blank vs True Strike" ordeal, it's another one that needs some clarification.

 

[Cloudgatherer]

Good call. Mind Blank goes on the list. Especially the Mind Blank vs. Discern Location conflicting text....

 

[reiella]

Fabricate as well. (And the related Improved Fabricate)

This isn't too bad for the most part, but as a spell it's possible for it to include a Wall of Stone force and Stoneshape, etc.

There's also it's 'legitimate' purpose of speeding of craft skills and the like. The only problems there (imo) are that Epic Craft skill checks rather suck compared to this spell (problem with Epic Craft imo) and Psions/Shapers with it. Just the ability to manifest Improved Fabricate as often as they can causes oddities like building a castle in the span of two weeks (not a big problem, just frustrating).

 

[radferth]

Just feel compelled to post the history of a few spells commonly listed as overpowered.

Shield: Back in first edition, Shield gave the equivalent of an armor bonus. Having it give an armor bonus in 3rd ed. seems to fix a lot of balance problems, but doesn't make as much sense based on the discription.

Haste used to have the nasty side effect of aging the recipients one year, which came with a small by significant chance of death if they failed a system shock roll (folks with decent constituion scores were 90% or more likely to live).

Harm (and all the cause wound spells) gave you one chance to hit only, and was usually done against the normal AC (although many DMs had something like touch AC they used for touch spells even before 3rd ed.)

Polymorph other used to have the dual problem of requiring a system shock roll, and had a chance (very complex to calculate) of permanently making you think you were the creature you were polymorphed into.

Taking out the arbitrary chance of death for spells like haste and polymorph seems like a good idea overall, but it does make the spells more powerful than they used to be.

 

[Shadeus]

I agree with just about all of those already brought up.

Enervation. 4th-level. no save. Let the fun begin!
Color Spray - I always thought this spell was poorly worded.

 

[Victim]

Just feel compelled to post the history of a few spells commonly listed as overpowered.

Shield: Back in first edition, Shield gave the equivalent of an armor bonus. Having it give an armor bonus in 3rd ed. seems to fix a lot of balance problems, but doesn't make as much sense based on the discription.

Haste used to have the nasty side effect of aging the recipients one year, which came with a small by significant chance of death if they failed a system shock roll (folks with decent constituion scores were 90% or more likely to live).

Harm (and all the cause wound spells) gave you one chance to hit only, and was usually done against the normal AC (although many DMs had something like touch AC they used for touch spells even before 3rd ed.)

Polymorph other used to have the dual problem of requiring a system shock roll, and had a chance (very complex to calculate) of permanently making you think you were the creature you were polymorphed into.

Taking out the arbitrary chance of death for spells like haste and polymorph seems like a good idea overall, but it does make the spells more powerful than they used to be.

Haste used to also hit an entire group and actually double attacks instead of adding an extra one. I think that the removal of the side effects is a fair trade for its now reduced effect.

 

[Cloudgatherer]

Haste used to also hit an entire group and actually double attacks instead of adding an extra one. I think that the removal of the side effects is a fair trade for its now reduced effect.

I'm not sure. Haste seems to be the "must have" spell. It is in nearly all the smackdown combos and is pretty unique. The next spell that gives "extra" actions is time stop, which has problems of its own.

 

[Saeviomagy]

But all the smackdown combos assume that the wizard is only fighting that fight today. Heaven forbid he may want to actually fight more than once...

As for shield and the tower shield facing problem - how about only allowing them to give their bonuses to a limited amount of attacks/attackers per round? As is, the only real use for them is if you intend to provoke attacks on your go, or the enemy is a long distance away - otherwise your opponent will just sidestep them.

 

[Anubis]

I agree with just about all of those already brought up.

Enervation. 4th-level. no save. Let the fun begin!
Color Spray - I always thought this spell was poorly worded.

Honestly, I'm glad you brought that up. Enervation is nearly as broken as Harm.

Personally, I would give it a Will save to avoid the effects.